New rail service worries local officials

Thursday

Apr 11, 2013 at 11:16 AM

MIDDLEBORO — Local residents with leisure time this summer may be pleased to hear that rail excursion trips to the Cape on weekends. But town officials believe the "T" needs to address some safety issues before the trains begin running through residential areas in Rock Village and South Middleboro where there are at-grade crossings.

JANE LOPES

MIDDLEBORO — Local residents with leisure time this summer may be pleased to hear that rail excursion trips to the Cape on weekends. But town officials believe the "T" needs to address some safety issues before the trains begin running through residential areas in Rock Village and South Middleboro where there are at-grade crossings.

The summer schedule, being operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) begins Memorial Day weekend and takes passengers from South Station in Boston to Hyannis, stopping at the Middleboro-Lakeville station on the way. The trains will run back and forth on Friday nights and during the day and evening on Saturday and Sunday.

Town Manager Charles Cristello and Chairman of Selectmen Al Rullo said the town has heard nothing from the state about the train service.

"We didn't hear about this until we got a call from the contractor about work that was going to be done at the rail crossings, about the detour routes to be used," the town manager said. "We asked if they were going to do any kind of public education and they said no. The only thing I can think of is that this is a MassDOT project and what the MBTA has learned about the importance of public relations hasn't filtered over to MassDOT. This warrants much more public notice and education than it has had."

Mr. Cristello said residents near the rail crossings are accustomed to freight traffic, but passenger trains are very different. They will be running more frequently and if they operate the way the MBTA's commuter trains run, they will be traveling at a much greater speed than freight trains.

The crossings consist of lights that flash and gates that drop to bar traffic when a train is coming. The crossings are otherwise wide open, with no fencing between the tracks and the road or at property lines. The Rock Village crossing is next to the Rock Village Church in a fairly heavily settled neighborhood while the Spruce Street crossing is somewhat more remote but in a residential area.

"My daughter lives in that area," Chairman Rullo said. "I was surprised to see the work going on on Spruce Street, but I thought they were just fixing the crossing. Our intention is to call the (transit authority) before the board. We want to know what kind of trains they are using, how often they will run, the speed of the trains. They have gates that appear to be working properly and I assume they will make sure, but these are pretty wide crossings and a lot of people live there. It's not exactly out in the woods. I'm concerned about safety for the kids. Are they going to put up some fencing beyond the actually crossing? Those are the questions I had."

Mr. Rullo said he heard nothing about the trains to the Cape even though he is the town's representative to the MBTA advisory board. "There are a number of other towns that will be affected, and I assume they haven't been told anything either," he said.

The town manager said he will contact the transit authority or MassDOT and ask a representative to meet with the selectmen.

A spokesperson for the state agencies was not available for comment at press time.

According to an MBTA press release, the weekend train service is designed to reduce traffic on the Bourne and Sagamore bridges in the summer. Inbound traffic over the Sagamore and Bourne bridges on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during July and August of last year averaged 230,000 vehicles on a typical summer weekend and 255,000 on the July 4th weekend, according to state officials. Diverting one percent of these weekend trips would result in at least 2,300 riders per weekend or 29,900 riders over 13 weekends, their press release said. The trip from South Station to Hyannis will include a specially outfitted coach that will offer customers a traffic-free trip and will include on-board concession and refreshment service, including beer and wine sales after the stop in Middleboro.